UEFA: “Maybe We Throw Out All Croatian Teams From All International Competitions”

There was a special guest at the Croatian football federations AGM and he was not bearing good news. UEFA delegate Grigorij Surkis spoke at the meeting and echoed threats already made by Michel Platini about Croatia’s shaky future.

“There is a possibility that your representative sides (from juniors right through to seniors) will be thrown out of all international competitions. The UEFA board is concerned because of crowd violence at matches with Croatian clubs,” said the Ukrainian.

Croatia’s deputy Sports Minister Petar Skansi replied to Surkis and read a letter that the Croatian government had sent UEFA, outlining new security measures it is undertaking on all of its stadiums.

“The only interest of the Croatian football federation is the fans in the stadium and results on the pitch. I carried the Croatian flag on my back after some big goals, but believe me we are doing all we can that against Serbia we again make the nation happy with the result. Regardless of the tragedy in the homeland war we will show respect to our opponents,” said Croatian football federation president Davor Suker as he opened the meeting.